Hair Loss in Young Women

Ongoing hair loss is normal, to some extent. Most people lose up
to 150 hairs per day without any obvious sign of thinning since new
hair is continually growing to replace it. However, a variety of
conditions and medications can lead to excessive—and sometimes
permanent— hair loss that affects men, women and children.

Some hair loss is related to specific, treatable diseases or
chronic medical conditions. Thyroid disease and hormonal imbalances
can lead to hair loss, and treating the underlying condition often
results in hair regrowth.

In other cases, hair loss is permanent. Most commonly, men
develop increasingly thin hair due to the inherited trait linked to
‘androgenetic alopecia,’ or male-pattern baldness. Women who carry
the same gene may experience noticeably thinning hair, especially
on the top and front of the head.

“It’s a vicious cycle. If you have the genetic component or the
medication component, and you start to see thinning hair or balding
patches on the scalp, you start to get stressed,” says Lilibet
Iken, owner of Be Salon and Hair Restoration. “So no matter what
you’re doing proactively, stress can feed into it and actually make
your hair get thinner faster.” Iken worked as a psychiatric nurse
and says her medical background helps her treat clients from both a
physical and emotional standpoint.

Thinning hair is best treated when caught early. “The reality is
that if they catch it very soon, they’ll be able to keep the hair
they have; and the earlier they catch it, obviously the better the
results,” says Heather Heintz of New Generation Hair and Skin
Center.

Both Iken and Heintz offer low-level laser therapy to restore
hair volume, and both emphasize the importance of a thorough
evaluation prior to treatment. “We consider any medications, any
treatments or illnesses that they’re being treated for, how their
overall health is, etc.” Heintz says. “For about 85 percent of
people dealing with hair loss, it is genetic, and that’s actually
what the laser works best for.”

The scalp is examined under magnification to determine whether
hair follicles are still viable. If hair is evident from a
follicle—even if it is extremely short and thin—the laser can help
to restore the follicle’s production of thicker hair strands.
Researchers are studying whether lasers could be used to reactivate
dormant follicles.

“We deal with cold lasers that are actually healing lasers,”
Iken says. “They came out of the ’60s as a way to heal diabetic
tissue. You want to get oxygen to the tissue so it can heal from
the inside out, and they noticed that when they came out with the
cold lasers a side effect was that they grew hair.”

Clients sit under a laser hood that looks similar to an
old-fashioned hair dryer for 30 minutes twice a week. Treatments
continue for several months, up to a year, and clients supplement
the laser sessions with products that block the androgenetic
hormone responsible for additional hair loss, Iken says.

“Our goal—if we can reach people early enough—is that they’ll be
able to use the laser therapy to keep their hair,” Heintz says. “If
you’re concerned with hair loss, don’t wait. Do something about
it.”